The campus community reacted on social networks Friday to the ‘news’ that the stars have shifted alignment and that the astrological identity they have known may have changed.
Yet, according to most astrologers, the zodiac chart remains the same.
“(I) will always be an Aries! Stupid zodiac changes… How would I be a Pisces? That’s just plain silly,” read one Vanderbilt sophomore’s Facebook status.
Astrologers across the country reported a wave of calls, e-mails or website hits from concerned clients.
“People are more attached and loyal to their signs than they thought,” said Eric Francis, editor of PlanetWaves.net, who said he had had 25,000 hits on his site since midnight. “It's interesting how many people are panicking their sign is wrong.”
Reaction on campus to the alleged zodiac changes has been mostly confusion and disappointment.
“I’m quite disappointed that I’m no longer an archer because archers rock,” said sophomore Lora Schaefer.
“I think that’s so weird. I hope I’m still a Taurus,” said junior Sarah Reid.
Junior Andrey Drozd made light of the controversy.
“I’m switching to the Chinese zodiac only,” Drozd said.
Astounded by all the kerfuffle was the man who started it, astronomy instructor Parke Kunkle.
In an interview Sunday in the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, Kunkle explained that the Earth's wobbly orbit means it's no longer aligned to the stars in the same way as when the signs of the zodiac were first conceived, about 5,000 years ago. That means, Kunkle said, that when astrologers say the sun is in Pisces, it's really in Aquarius, and so on.
“Astronomers have known about this since about 130 B.C.,” Kunkle told The Associated Press Friday in his office at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College, his phone ringing constantly, as it had since the article came out. (One person had even demanded: “Give me my sign back.”)
“This is not new news. Almost every astronomy class talks about it.”
New news or old, most people had never heard it before. And one of the more fascinating elements of the story was talk of a new sign altogether.
By the reckoning of Kunkle and other astronomers, astrologers are not only a month off in their zodiac signs, but they are neglecting a 13th constellation, Ophiuchus (Ooh-FEE-yew-kus) the Serpent Bearer, for those born from Nov. 30 to Dec. 17.
According to myth, Ophiuchus became a healer when he killed a snake and another appeared with an herb in his mouth that revived the dead one, said Amy Sayle, an astronomy educator at the Moorehead Planetarium at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Linda Zlotnick, an astrologer for 32 years in St. Paul, Minn., said she and fellow astrologers have long known of the issue raised by Kunkle, but that the most commonly used zodiac — tropical — isn't affected by it. Zlotnick said the sidereal zodiac, which isn't as widely used, IS based on the constellations.
Other astrologers expressed resentment that the brouhaha had been launched by an astronomer.
While astronomy is a science, astrology is not recognized as having any scientific basis.
"This is an attempt to show ignorance on the part of astrologers," said Jim Sher, who runs an astrological institute in Los Angeles.
"We do know about this," he said of the planetary wobble. Added Craig Martin, another Los Angeles astrologer: "It's unlikely the astrology community is going to accept what an astronomer is trying to put on them."
A spokeswoman for the American Federation of Astrologers, Shelley Ackerman, said she'd been swamped with e-mails from worried clients. She advises them not to overreact.
"This doesn't change your chart at all. I'm not about to use it," she said. "Every few years a story like this comes out and scares the living daylights out of everyone, but it'll go away as quickly as it came."
Associated Press contributed to this article.
